The prior art has recognized the desirability of mounting a seat belt buckle on the vehicle seat so that the buckle adjusts fore and aft with the seat to remain at a consistent location aside the occupant torso. The prior art has also recognized the desirability of providing a load transfer mechanism by which the occupant restraint load imposed on the seat belt is transmitted directly to the vehicle floor without loading the seat adjuster mechanism.
The aforedescribed belt load transfer mechanism conventionally includes a toothed bar which extends along side the seat and has a rearward end pivotally mounted on the vehicle floor rearward of the seat. A locking mechanism normally slides along the bar and moves into a locking relationship with the bar upon the imposition of an occupant restraint load on the seat belt.
It would be desirable to provide a load transfer mechanism which would lock up prior to the onset of the occupant restraint load on the seat belt.